By BOB FOWLER
Knoxnews.com
KINGSTON — For 137 years, this small town has been putting on a big Independence Day bash.
That inaugural celebration in 1876 included a “salute of 100 guns” at 4 a.m., according to a handbill advertising the event.
“Eloquent oration” was promised, along with a fireworks display. Those planning to attend in 1876 were advised “the strictest order and decorum will be enforced.”
Things have changed, but the festivities continue thanks to community contributions, said Rick Ross, the city’s director of parks and recreation.
Along with a variety of entertainment throughout the day, the event will be capped with a massive fireworks display over Watts Bar Lake that’s normally viewed by some 25,000 people lining the lakefront and in boats, Ross said. He called the fireworks show “the largest in East Tennessee on the day of the Fourth.”
This year’s edition of the event, again titled “Smokin’ the Water,” is being held in tandem with the national championships of the American Power Boat Association’s Professional Racing Outboard category.
